Comments on: Why becoming a zero waste, minimalist, vegan is not the solution to all our problems

By: Emily

Emily — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 17:04:41 +0000

I don’t disagree with the thrust of this article at all. I think there are plenty of things we do that seem to be helping but aren’t at all. But, I think one thing vegans, zerowasters, and vegan zerowasters agree on is that if a bunch of us do these things, companies and supermarkets will realize that there is widespread interest in minimizing suffering and our waste footprint, and would adjust accordingly to capture a wider market. That would, in turn, make the practices that we already engage in even more environmentally friendly. One thing that is SUPER frustrating at the moment is that as a vegan, all of the substitutes marketed to us (meat, cheese, ice cream, butter, etc.) either come in plastic packaging, or have ingredients that are seriously bad for the environment, like palm oil (yuck). So, if Daiya or Beyond realize that a lot of vegans won’t purchase their products, they might come up with a more sustainable option. At least I hope so haha

By: veganvue

veganvue — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 11:59:19 +0000

Anybody can list excuses. Veganism does not “work” for some and “not work” for others, this is the optimal diet for humans. Agree or not, there is really no debate on it in science, only among bloggers lol. 😉
Second point, not making zero waste decisions environmental really isnt realistic. When someone has done all the research and minimized all their belongings, their processes will obviously try to be minimal footprint too.
Finding vegan or zero waste options too difficult? Seriously? People choose vegan/ZW because they want to and are excited to find those options, not because it is a must.
There are certain things more important than a relationship. Besies, our relationship should be able to improve for a common goal. If the common goal is missing, the relationship will not work anyway. And it has nothing to do with veganism or CW.

By: Zoe

Zoe — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 08:53:54 +0000

In reply to Maria Vittoria. Hi Maria, as I said in my reply to the comment above I think the tone of this post came across wrong. I agree with you about striving for the best version of ourselves absolutely and that going zero waste, minimalist and vegan are good directions to head in. I have spent the last 6 years heading in a zero waste and plastic free direction (and I eat less meat than I used to) and I think what you are doing is great and your attitude towards it is great. My article was meant to be taken literally - I don't think these activities are always the right answer all of the time. A lot of the time yes, but all of the time no.

By: Zoe

Zoe — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 08:43:21 +0000

In reply to Annemarie. Hi Annemarie, I think the tone of the post obviously came across wrong. I have spent the last 6 years gradually going more and more plastic free and zero waste and going as far as I possibly could with it and realising my limits. For me it isn't a new trend, it's been my life for the past few years. This post was in response to some of the things I have seen online where I feel people have just gone too far in their pursuit of a plastic free, vegan, zero waste life. I think that there needs to be some flexibility in these lifestyles to recognise that they aren't always the right answer to everything and sometimes they can be the wrong answer and that is as much a criticism of myself as it is of those lifestyles.

By: Maria Vittoria

Maria Vittoria — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 11:57:49 +0000

I am sorry but I disagree! Being vegan, zero waste and minimalist might not solve all the world problems in one go but it’s definitely the best and most sustainable way of living! You can be 100% of anything because we are human and we live in multicoloured world full of different choices and options. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t aspire or strive for the best version of ourselves we can be! My version of vegan-minimalist-zerowaste person is not perfect, and is different from every other person living like me, however it is certeinly the best I can do at the moment and I am going to constantly evolve and change to get closer and closer to the tiniest footprint I can possible do. And that’s exactly what these movements stand for, not PERFECTION, but YOUR BEST EFFORT! Tomorrow I will be better than yesterday, and every day I choose to live this way I am positively contributing to create a more cruelty free world!

By: Annemarie

Annemarie — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 17:59:56 +0000

I feel like this is one of those posts that are just scraping at ways to go against a new trend, and failing miserably at it. Obviously if something is effecting your health, you shouldn’t do it. Doing something (or not doing something) because you don’t want to offend people is a really horrible reason not to do it. There are ways of being less offensive, and that is something that should be more encouraged anyways. Also, one of the biggest things in minimalism is going against fast fashion and maybe spending a bit more on fashion that is timeless and will last a lot longer. And the whole thing about almond milk… geez. Along with the production of cows milk being super horrible for the environment, there’s a lot of hormones (and a ton of other things) in it that people don’t want or need to be consuming. I agree that there are different milk alternatives and even not buying a milk supplement at all is an option. I feel like when you say that things don’t work all the time, that’s a no brainer. But you shouldn’t just quit being vegan or minimalist or zero-waste (or anything else you believe in) just because it gets hard, you should find ways to work around this issues. You say that we need to take bits and pieces of these movements instead of just creating alternative problems, but you don’t actually contextualize it with evidence or ways that we could do things better, so it just amounts to nothing. Also, there were a ton of grammatical errors, but the content was what really irked me. I really like what you’re trying to do with the website though, keep on trucking!